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Malachy Coney
Malachy Coney is a writer and cartoonist from Ardoyne, North Belfast. In 1988 he and John McMahon opened the Talisman comic shop, now the Belfast branch of Forbidden Planet International, which Coney still manages. His first notable comics work was a two-episode installment of Third World War, "A Symphony of Splintered Wood", co-written with Pat Mills and painted by Sean Phillips, in issues 22 and 23 of Fleetway's anthology Crisis in 1989. Mills had taken on various co-writers for episodes dealing with specific geopolitical situations, and Coney's episodes concerned Northern Ireland's "Troubles". In 1993-94 he wrote the three issue series Holy Cross, each issue a self-contained story set in the same district of north Belfast, published by Fantagraphics. The first issue was drawn by Davy Francis, the second by English artist Chris Hogg, and the third by P. J. Holden. Coney and Holden also collaborated on the Holy Cross graphic novel The Moon Looked Down and Laughed, published by Fantagraphics in 1997. He self-published a number of small press comics during the early 1990s, including the religious satire Catholic Lad, The Good Father, a story of family and sexuality, and a gay-themed parody superhero comic, Major Power and Spunky, drawn by Sean Doran, which also appeared in the anthologies Gay Comics and Buddies, and in a one-shot published by Fantagraphics' Eros imprint in 1994. Eros also published Coney and Holden's The Dandy Lion in 1997. A third gay superhero parody, The Simply Incredible Hunk, was drawn and self-published by Holden. In 1997 He contributed to the Belfast anthology DNA Swamp, writing the Irish mythological superhero series "Keltor", illustrated by Christian Kotey, and the one-off strip "Life Dreams of a Homo Pacedermus", drawn by Doran. In 1998-1999 he had a run on Marc Silvestri's The Darkness from Top Cow/Image, initially co-written with Garth Ennis. The "Spear of Destiny" story arc introduced a new character, the Magdalena, who has since appeared in her own comic. He plotted and co-wrote, with Steven Grant, the "Hell on Earth" storyline for Harris Comics' Vampirella Monthly in 1998. The same year he co-wrote a short animated film, Second Helpings, with director Joel Simon, about a chubby 8-year-old girl and her dreams of being model-slim. From 2003 to 2005 he wrote and drew "Ouija Board, Ouija Board", a full-page comic strip based on his observations of Belfast life and events, for the Northern Irish political and cultural magazine Fortnight, to which he also contributed articles and illustrations, and self-published two issues of Good Craic Comics in 2005-2006. He also contributed to the Belfast anthology Small Axe. Gallery File:Holcyrrosscover1.jpg|''Holy Cross'' #1 (1993) Image:Majorpower1.GIF|''Major Power and Spunky'' (1994) File:Holy Cross 2.jpg|''Holy Cross'' #2 (1994) Image:HolyCross3.jpg|''Holy Cross'' #3 (1995) Image:Moonlookedown.jpg|''The Moon Looked Down and Laughed'' (1997) Image:DANDYLION01.jpg|''The Dandy Lion'' (1997) Image:2008-06-09-hunk cover.jpg|''The Simply Incredible Hunk'' (1997) File:Coney-ouija-board.jpg|"Ouija Board, Ouija Board" (2003) File:Set164 01.jpg|''Good Craic Comics #1 (2005) File:Coney-Lost-in-the-Horse-Lat.jpg|Illustration from Fortnight (2005) Comics bibliography *"Third World War: A Symphony of Splintered Wood", Crisis #22-23, co-written by Pat Mills, art by Sean Phillips, 1989 *"The Geek", Crisis #22, art by Jim McCarthy, 1989 *"Wyrmwood", Toxic! #24, art by John McCrea, 1991 *''Holy Cross, 3 issue series, art by Davy Francis, Chris Hogg and P. J. Holden, Fantagraphics Books, 1993-1995 *The Good Father, self-published, 1993 *"Major Power and Spunky", ''Gay Comics #20, art by Sean Doran, 1993 *''Major Power and Spunky, art by Sean Doran, Fantagraphics/Eros, 1994 *"Major Power and Spunky", ''Buddies #4-5, 1995 *''The Moon Looked Down and Laughed, graphic novel, art by P. J. Holden, Fantagraphics Books, 1997 *The Dandy Lion, art by P. J. Holden, Fantagraphics/Eros, 1997 *The Simply Incredible Hunk, art by P. J. Holden, self-published by Holden, 1997 *"Keltor", ''DNA Swamp #1-3, art by Christian Kotey, 1997 *"Life Dreams of a Homo Pacedermus", DNA Swamp #1, art by Sean Doran, 1997 *"Wake Up", Gay Comics #25, art by Sean Doran, 1998 *''The Darkness'' #11-22 (#11-14 co-written by Garth Ennis), art by Joe Benitez and others, Top Cow/Image, 1998-1999 *''Spririt of the Tao'' #1-5, co-written by D-Tron and Billy Tan, art by Billy Tan, Top Cow/Image, 1998 *''Tales of the Darkness'' #1-4, 1/2 (#1-2 co-written by Brian Haberlin), drawn by various artists, Top Cow/Image, 1998-1999 *''Vampirella Monthly'' #10-11 (#11 co-written by Steven Grant), art by Louis Small Jnr., Harris, 1998 *"Ouija Board, Ouija Board", Fortnight, 2003-2005 *''Good Craic Comics'' #1-2, self-published, 2005-2006 *"A Little Night Music", Small Axe #?, drawn by Stephen Downey, 2005 External links *Read [http://www.myebook.com/index.php?id=12762&option=ebook The Simply Incredible Hunk] online at MyEBook Press *[http://archives.tcj.com/2_archives/r_Ho2Ka.html Holy Cross #1-3 reviewed by Anne Rubenstein], The Comics Journal #178 *Interview at Creative NI, 2003 (Internet Archive] *Cue and Ehh? interview on Shuffle, 2006 *''Fractured Visions'' part one and part two, video documentary by Craig Smith, including the 2D Comics Festival, Bridgeen Gillespie, Malachy Coney, Declan Shalvey and David Lloyd, 2010 References *''Zum!'' (small press review zine) #4 (1992), #6 (1993), #9 (1995) *Malachy Coney on ComicbookDB *Michigan State University Comic Art Collection: "Coné" to "Confessors" *[http://www.sirrealcomix.ws/page/g/GayComics20-1.htm Gay Comics #20] and #25 at Sir Real's Underground Comix Classix *''Second Helpings'': Irish Film Board, Northern Ireland Screen *[http://www.atomicavenue.com/atomic/titledetail.aspx?TitleID=5294 Vampirella Monthly at Atomic Avenue] *''Fortnight'' #415-422, 424-429, 431-433, 435-436, June 2003-August 2005 *Tammy Moore, "Unforbidding Planet", [http://www.creativewritersnetwork.org/Download%20Documents/ulla1.pdf Ulla's Nib #1], pp. 17-18, 2007 *Stephen Downey interview at Jazma Online, 22 April 2009 Category:Comics writers Category:Comics writer-artists Category:Journalists Category:Belfast creators Category:Creators in British comics Category:Creators in American comics Category:Fortnight Category:Crisis Category:Self-publishers Category:Fantagraphics Books Category:Image Comics